Name Date from the ODYSSEY: PART 2 Summary THE HomecomiNG FROM THE ODYSSEY Homer Setting: Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, possibly around 1200 B.C. Book 16: Odysseus returns home dressed as a beggar. He meets Eumaeus, the faithful swineherd. Then he sees his son, Telemachus. Telemachus does not recognize his father. When Odysseus removes the disguise, Telemachus thinks he is a god. Finally, Telemachus recognizes his father. Father and son weep to be together again. Book 17: Odysseus returns to his palace still disguised as a beggar. Outside, he sees his dog, Argus, who has been treated badly while he was gone. Odysseus is angered by the dog’s poor condition. Book 21: Odysseus discovers that many suitors are at the palace. They want to marry Penelope. She has given up hope that Odysseus will return. She plans a contest. She will marry the winner. The men must string Odysseus’ bow. Then they must shoot an arrow through the holes in 12 ax heads. No one can string the bow. Still dressed as a beggar, Odysseus completes both tasks. Book 22: Odysseus takes off his disguise. He kills Antinous, the leader of the suitors. The remaining suitors decide they must fight with Odysseus. Telemachus and two servants join Odysseus in the fight. With the help of these men and Athena, Odysseus kills all the suitors. Book 23: Penelope is not sure the man is really Odysseus. She asks a servant to put his bed FROM outside his bedroom. Odysseus says that the bed cannot be moved. One of its posts is the from the trunk of an olive tree. Penelope then knows that he is really Odysseus. No one else knows the THE ODYSSEY: PA secret of the bed. Odysseus and his wife weep in one another’s arms. ODYSSEY: PA R R T 2 T 2 Copyright © Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Copyright Resource Manager Unit 11 41 Grade 9 NA_L09RMu11_03.indd 41 2/10/11 9:37:24 AM.